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Nick Clegg launches Lib Dems' 2012 local election campaign: Politics live blog Nick Clegg launches Lib Dems' 2012 local election campaign: Politics live blog
(about 1 hour later)
4.20pm: Here's an afternoon summary. 8.50am: With parliament in recess, the political parties are now starting to focus on next month's local elections. Ed Miliband launched the Labour campaign yesterday, and Nick Clegg is launching the Lib Dem one this afternoon. In the Guardian today Tony Travers has an article explaining what's at stake.
• Ed Miliband has called for a "clear out of those people who did wrong" at News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's media company. Miliband also said that James Murdoch was right to stand down as chairman of BSkyB. Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who has campaigned against phone hacking, said Murdoch junior quit because he was worried about what a forthcoming select committee report would say. On 3 May, all three parties will be under pressure to elicit from voters a response that will be seen to outperform their present unpromising standing.
Two years ago the Murdochs were courted by all and sundry and now James Murdoch is running away with his tail between his legs, frightened of what the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee may say about his disastrous and incompetent running of News International. The important message for the whole political class is that we should never kow-tow to a media mogul again, nor allow any one person to have such a stranglehold over the British media. The Conservatives badly need to steady nerves after their spate of unforced errors, Labour is recovering from its dreadful defeat in Bradford, and the Liberal Democrats will be fearful of another battering of the kind they got in last year's local elections.
There is more on our live blog covering Mudoch's decision to stand down as BSkyB chairman.
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/>• Nick Clegg has insisted that the plans to extend internet surveillance will be published in draft. Parliament would have the chance to amend them, he suggested. He also said that some of the reports about what the plans would contain were wrong. 		At stake is voting for a third of the council seats in each of the 36 English metropolitan districts; a third of seats in 16 unitary authorities (plus two, Hartlepool and Swindon where all seats are voting, due to boundary changes); and various proportions of the seats in 74 shire districts (63 by thirds, seven for half the seats, and four all-out).

/>These proposals are not the draconian proposals that there have been portrayed as being. They are trying to deal with a simple, pragmatic issue one cannot simply ignore or duck, that is that there are new forms of technology which enable criminal gangs and terrorists and other to communicate with each other which are not captured in existing statutes. 		I'll be covering the Lib Dem campaign in detail later.
• Clegg has said that the Lib Dem goal in the local elections will be to win more seats. At a low-key local election launch, he admitted the elections would be diffcult for his party. (See 3.55pm.) Otherwise, it's a patchy day. Here's the agenda.
• Boris Johnson has released a letter from his accountant showing that he has never used a private company to cut his tax bill. Here's an extract. It's from Robert Maples at Begbies. 9am: LBC hosts a London mayoral debate with Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Brian Paddick and Jenny Jones. My colleague Paul Owen is covering it on our London mayoral elections live blog.
My firm has acted as Boris' acountants since the 1990's. All of his freelance earnings have been included in his tax returns and subjected to income tax at the appropriate rates. He has never used a company either to shelter his income from taxation, or to meet other private expenditure, or to employ staff. 10am: Lucy Panton, the former News of the World crime editor, gives evidence to the Leveson inquiry.
He was a director of and 1/3 shareholder in a television company called Finland Station Limited. This company paid him production fees for his television work which were included in his tax returns, and subject to income tax. He never received any dividends or director's remuneration from the company. Morning: David Cameron visits south west London today to publicise the government's new right-to-buy scheme for social housing. As Nicholas Watt reports, tenants will qualify for discounts worth up to £75,000.
When he was elected mayor, he gave up his interest in the company. The total net assets of the company at that time were £307. No taxation liability arose on his 1/3 share of this. 11am: Nick Clegg visits the Bentley factory in Crewe to announce that it has secured £3m from the regional growth fund.
• David Cameron has said that a Christian "fightback" is taking place in the UK and that this is a good thing. He made the comments in a reception at Number 10. 3pm: Clegg launches the Lib Dem local election campaign at a meeting with apprentices in Stockport.
I think there's something of a fightback going on, and we should welcome that ... The values of the Bible, the values of Christianity are the values that we need. At some point today Stephen Twigg, the shadow education secretary, is addressing the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference in Manchester. He is going to say that it is a "national scandal" that poorer pupils are lagging up to a year behind their richer classmates in their schooling.

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/>• A former president of the Union of Democratic Mineworkers has been found guilty today of stealing thousands of pounds from a miners' care home charity. As the Press Association reports, Neil Greatrex was accused of stealing money from Phoenix Nursing and Residential Home Ltd, a subsidiary company of the UDM charity Nottinghamshire Miners Home. He was found guilty of 14 theft charges relating to money stolen to settle invoices from two building companies and a joiner amounting to a total of £148,628.83. UDM general secretary Mick Stevens, who was accused of the same charges, was cleared by the jury at Nottingham Crown Court. 		As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and another in the afternoon.
• A county council's decision that 10 libraries should be run by volunteers has been ruled procedurally flawed and unlawful. As the Press Association reports, a High Court judge said today that Surrey County Council had "failed to have due regard to equality issues". The council said later that it had lost the case only on a "technical" challenge and the legal defeat would not prevent the scheme ultimately going ahead. The judge is expected to decide next month what orders, if any, to make against the council. It is expected that the authority will have to reconsider its flawed decision in the light of today's judgment. The authority's community library scheme is aimed at keeping its 52 libraries open. It involves removing all paid staff from 10 community libraries, leaving them to be run entirely by volunteers. If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow.
That's it for today. Thanks for the comments. And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog.
3.55pm: The Lib Dem local election launch has been and gone without attracting the attention of 24-hour news. My colleague Nicholas Watt has sent me this. 8.59am: There was a fascinating snippet from Mark Easton on the Today programme just now. Apparently at the Department for Communities they talk of TAFKARs - The Areas Formerly Known As Regions. That's because the coalition is so hostile to the (Labour and EU) notion of dividing the UK into regions. Tory geography tends to put more emphasis on towns, cities and shire counties.
Nick Clegg has left Stockport after the low key launch of the Liberal Democrats' local election launch. He is now heading to Salford to visit the BBC's new northern headquarters for a round of regional radio interviews. The deputy prime minister said the local elections would be difficult for the Lib Dems because the seats were last contested in 2008 long before the party entered government. He said his ambition in May was to ensure there are more Lib Dem councillors. 9.11am: The Lib Dems have released some comments from Nick Clegg about his local election launch later. Here's an extract.
3.28pm: With the Labour party, it's still open season on Gordon Brown. Last month Ed Balls told the Times in an interview that working for Brown was "debilitating" and that "nobody is going to look back at any point in history and say that Gordon Brown was a great prime minister". And now Peter Hain, in an interview with the Australian, has said this.
/>This is the time to be proud to be a Liberal Democrat. We've always worked hard and delivered for people locally but for the first time in living memory, we are doing that nationally too ..
Gordon has a massive political brain and is superhumanly dedicated, but he was quite dysfunctional as a prime minister. The Liberal Democrats are delivering for ordinary people in government. Over the next week, our policies will mean nearly 25m people will get a £130 tax cut on top of the £200 tax cut we gave them last year.

/>There's more in Outside In, Hain's recent autobiography, which I've just got round to reading. It's far better than the standard ministerial memoir, partly because the account of Hain's time as an anti-apartheid activist is gripping, but partly because he's quite candid about his colleagues. There are a few anecdotes that add to catalogue of stories about Brown's strange behaviour. Here's one of my favourites. It's about Brown's conduct when the cabinet assembled for a groupt photograph in September 2004, when Brown/Blair relations were at a particular low. 		Schools will get over £1bn more through our Pupil Premium to help the most disadvantaged children and pensioners will see the biggest ever cash rise in the state pension of £5.30 a week.
[Brown] refused to walk up in the normal way, face towards the seating position, turning around before sitting down. Instead he turned around before he got anywhere near and backed in, his body language signalling extreme awkwardness and hostility towards Tony, no greeting or small talk, angling towards David [Blunkett] and never uttering a word to Tony ... My top priority is jobs and growth, in Stockport, Liberal Democrats are leading the way with the highest increase in the number of new business start-ups in the north west and the highest number of new 16-18 advanced and higher apprenticeships in Greater Manchester.
I found myself walking downstairs to the cabinet room with Gordon afterwards and asked him how he was feeling. "What do you think?" he muttered, tight lipped though friendly. "The problem is we have not solved a whole lot of problems and those problems have to be solved." 9.21am: As Jessica Shepherd reports in the Guardian today, Michael Gove, the education secretary, wants universities to take charge of setting A-levels. Christine Blower, the National Union of Teachers general secretary, told the Today programme that she was disappointed that Gove had not consulted the profession first. I've taken her quote from PoliticsHome.
3.17pm: Ed Miliband has said that James Murdoch was right to stand down as chairman of BSkyB. This is what he told Sky just now. I think Michael Gove is always looking for a golden past, isn't he. But what I would say about this is it's a little disappointing that he's written to Ofqual without having had this discussion with the profession, because the fact is he also says in his letter that A-levels have a lot to commend them, and he also says that students becoming undergraduates have become much better at communication, at presentation, and at team work and that what he's actually looking for is a lot more independent thinking, a lot more critical thinking, wider reading and ability to experiment.
I think it probably is the right thing for [Murdoch] to do. But it goes beyond one person ... This is now about how [News Corporation] can restore public confidence by, from top to bottom, [seeing] what happened and then having a clear out of those people who did wrong. Blower said she was not opposed to reforming A-levels. But she went on: "What we don't want is to have proposals put to us on a take-it-or-leave-it basis."
It was interesting that he talked about News Corporation, not News International. Was he suggesting that Rupert Murdoch should go? It didn't sound quite like that, but I'm not sure. 10.14am: Ed Davey (pictured), the energy secretary, has launched a competition today to encourage the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The full details are in the Department of Energy's news release. Davey says this is one of the best offers available to the industry in the world.
3.09pm: The Electoral Commission has launched a Facebook campaign to encourage people to register to vote for next month's elections. You can read all the details here. If you want to vote, you have to be registered by 18 April. What we are looking to achieve, in partnership with industry, is a new world-leading CCS industry, rather than just simply projects in isolation – an industry that can compete with other low-carbon sources to ensure security and diversity of our electricity supply, an industry that can make our energy intensive industries cleaner and an industry that can bring jobs and wealth to our shores. The CCS industry could be worth £6.5bn a year to the UK economy by late next decade as we export UK expertise and products.
3.01pm: My colleague Nicholas Watt is at the Lib Dem local election launch. He's sent me this. This is a really exciting time for the fledgling CCS industry. Our offer is one of the best anywhere in the world. We have £1bn available to support the upfront costs of early projects along with a commitment to further funding through low carbon Contracts for Difference, we have £125m to support research and development including a new UK CCS Research Centre, and we have the long term incentives in place through our Electricity Market Reforms.
Nick Clegg has arrived at a building supply firm on the outskirts of Stockport for the launch of the Liberal Democrats' local election campaign. The deputy prime minister is visiting Benchmark Building Supplies Limited in Romiley to focus attention on the work of Stockport council in promoting apprenticeships. The Lib Dems run the council as a minority administration. Andrew Stunnell is the local Lib Dem MP for Hazel Grove. Stockport has the highest number of start up companies in the north west. It also has the highest number of apprenticeships in the Greater Manchester area for those aged 16 to 18. 10.27am: Ken Livingstone has published a plan to tackle London's gang culture, involving mediation and early intervention. The full details are on his website.
2.53pm: Nick Clegg is due to launch the Lib Dem election campaign shortly. I haven't gone to Stockport and I'll be reliant on BBC News, Sky and Twitter for help with my coverage. 10.37am: Here's a blow to the Big Society. The Press Association have just snapped this.
Clegg isn't giving a proper speech. But Lib Dem HQ have put out a short statement from him. Surrey County Council's plans for 10 libraries to be run by volunteers was ruled unlawful by the High Court today.
Liberal Democrat councillors across the country are working to protect the services that people value most, while Liberal Democrats in the coalition clear up the economic mess Labour left behind. 10.40am: For the record, here are the YouGov GB polling figures from last night.
Our priority is clear, in difficult times we must make sure we do all we can to help ordinary working people. That is why, unlike Labour or the Conservatives, every Liberal Democrat council in England has frozen council tax. That is why Liberal Democrat councils are more likely to earmark funds for the lowest paid than any other. And that is why this month Liberal Democrats in government are delivering tax cuts for 25m working people. Labour: 43% (up 1 from YouGov in the Sunday Times)
/>Conservative: 33% (no change)
/>Lib Dems: 8% (no change)
Liberal Democrats have a strong record in local government and are committed to fighting for communities across the UK. Labour lead: 10 points.
The Lib Dems have also released separate manifestos for eight regions in England which are on their website. The manifesto for London will be released later. Government approval: -43
2.13pm: Here's more from the World at One interview with Nick Clegg (pictured) about the government's plans to extend surveillance of the internet. At -43, the government's approval rating has hit a new low. On Sunday, when it hit -40 for the first time, that was also a record low. Last week it was in the mid -30s. You can see how quickly it has fallen on the YouGov tracker (pdf). At the moment it seems to be in freefall.
• Clegg said the Lib Dems would demand "the highest possible safeguards". Protecting civil liberties was very important, he said. 10.57am: The LBC mayoral debate seemed relatively tame from what I read on our live blog, but the debate in the lift afterwards between Boris Johnson (pictured) and Ken Livingstone was ferocious, according to my colleague Hélène Mulholland. This is what she has has posted on the blog.
You cannot do any of this without ensuring that there are safeguards, and that there are safeguards which guarantee people's privacy, guarantee our hard-fought civil liberties. That is something I personally believe in very passionately indeed ... We've learned that things did not go well in the lift after the hustings was over. Boris went nose to nose with Ken in a small lift and told Ken three times: "You're a fucking liar, you're a fucking liar, you're a fucking liar." Paddick and Jenny were also squeezed in, alongside James Rea, the LBC managing editor. Johnson's anger was due to claims made during the hustings by Livingstone about Johnson's tax arrangements, which the mayor flatly denies. He told me later that Ken's claims were "nonsense". Of course at that point we hadn't heard about the ding-dong in the lift.
I am absolutely clear, as deputy prime minister, as someone who cares passionately about civil liberties, as the leader of the Liberal Democrats, that we will not return to the bad old days under the Labour party. This will be an open, consultative and properly scrutinised process. London Tonight's political correspondent Simon Harris has got more on Twitter.
• He said that new technology meant it was right to consider whether the police needed new powers. The police can already identify who has made a telephone call, and where and when it was made. But now people were increasingly using methods like Skype to communicate. The government was considering whether the police needed new powers to keep up. Sources say Johnson and Livingstone"nose to nose". Johnson 's face "red with rage" @londontonight
• He said there would be a proper consultation. The plans would be published in draft, he said. — Simon Harris (@simonharrisitv) April 3, 2012
It is important that people should be reassured that we as a government are not going to ram something through parliament. During the debate Livingstone said that Johnson had set up his own company called "Finland Station". Johnson said that he has never used a company to channel income, in the way that Livingstone has done. Johnson has just put out a news release accusing Livingstone of lying. Here's an extract.
• He said the government's decisions would be guided by certain key principles.
/>My salary as Mayor is taxed as an employee of the GLA. In the same way as when I was an MP my salary was taxed as an employee. Any other income that I have received from outside endeavours has been received on a self-employed basis, to me as an individual (no company or other structure has been involved). No income earned by me has ever been paid to a "service" company, through which a person or person's freelance earnings can be channelled so that they pay corporation rather than income tax.

/>All along I will be guided, and the govenrment will be guided, by some very simple principles: that any change will have to be proportionate, it cannot lead to the creation of a new government database, it cannot give the police new powers to look at the contents of people's emails. Essentially what we are talking about is whether the powers of the police need to be updated to keep pace with the use of new technology. 		To suggest otherwise is a complete and utter fabrication.

/>
/>• He said some of the reports about the government's plans had been inaccurate. He urged people to wait until the details are published before forming a judgment. 		Of course the real point is not about my tax arrangements. It is about the hypocrisy of a man who for years has railed against those who use special arrangements to reduce their tax and who has then been caught – bang to rights – doing the very same thing himself.
1.30pm: Here's a lunchtime summary.
/>
/>• Sky News has revealed that James Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of BSkyB. We'll be covering all the reaction on a separate live blog. 		11.26am: Nick Clegg is in Crewe announcing a £3m grant for Bentley Motors from the regional growth fund. The RGF is intended to draw in private sector investment and Clegg says it will safeguard 200 jobs and create another 500 jobs.
• Nick Clegg has said the government's plans to extend internet surveillance will include safeguards to protect "hard-fought" civil liberties. He defended the proposals in an interview on the World at One. I'll post more details soon. Earlier, Ed Miliband urged David Cameron to "get a grip" on the government in the light of the ongoing controvery about the plans. The Labour leader argued that such a sensitive decision should be explained to the public in a more formal way. He spoke out after Theresa May, the home secretary, used an article in the Sun to defend the plans, which first emerged in the Sunday papers. May said: "No one is going to be looking through ordinary people's emails or Facebook posts. Only suspected terrorists, paedophiles or serious criminals will be investigated." Here's an extract from the news release.
• Boris Johnson has repeatedly called Ken Livingstone a "fucking liar" after Livingstone suggested that Johnson had used a private company to cut his tax bill. The two men had a furious row in a lift after debating each other in public on LBC. (See 10.57am, 11.53am and 12.28pm.)
/>
/>• Ed Davey, the energy secretary, has launched a £1bn competition to encourage companies to develop technology which captures and stores carbon from power stations. As the Press Association reports, tt is the second time the government has attempted to get carbon capture and storage (CCS) off the ground, after a previous bid ended in failure when plans for the technology at ScottishPower's coal plant at Longannet, Fife, were abandoned. Ministers are depending on getting the technology, which can capture up to 90% of carbon emissions and then permanently store them underground, working at scale as a major part of decarbonising electricity generation by 2030. This time the £1bn in funding will be available to a wider range of projects, including gas power stations and even industrial plants involved as part of group schemes, to develop CCS at commercial scale between 2016 and 2020. (See 10.14am.) 		The [£3m of funding] will be used by the world-famous company, which has manufactured luxury cars since 1919, to fund an innovative new engine research and development project which will help the business expand into new overseas markets, including China. Over £20m of private investment has been secured for the project alongside £3m government funding.
• Universities, headteachers and examiners have expressed concern over Michael Gove's plan to ask lecturers to set A-level exams in two years' time, claiming that the system is "not broken". And here's a quote from Clegg.
• David Cameron has issued an Easter message to the nation. In it, the prime minister came close to appropriating Jesus as a model Briton, saying the values he embraced were those that "make our country what it is". Here it is in full. Today's announcement is just the tip of the iceberg for the North West. All in all 47 bids to the Regional Growth Fund have been approved. This will mean over 13,000 new and protected jobs across the region and over 41,000 supply chain jobs.
Easter week is a very important moment in the Christian calendar, so I would like to extend my best wishes to everyone here in the United Kingdom, and across the world, at this special time of year. 11.53am: A spokesman for Ken Livingstone has sent me a statement about the great Boris/Ken "fucking liar" lift row, as I suppose we have to call it. (See 10.57am.)
This is the time when, as Christians, we remember the life, sacrifice and living legacy of Christ. The New Testament tells us so much about the character of Jesus; a man of incomparable compassion, generosity, grace, humility and love. These are the values that Jesus embraced, and I believe these are values people of any faith, or no faith, can also share in, and admire.
/>Boris Johnson lost his temper because he lost the debate - he talked about cable cars not cutting fares and the squeeze on Londoners.
It is values like these that make our country what it is - a place which is tolerant, generous and caring. A nation which has an established faith, that together is most content when we are defined by what we are for, rather than defined by what we are against. In the book of Luke, we are told that Jesus said, "Do to others as you would have them do to you" - advice that when followed makes for a happier, and better society for everyone. You'll notice it does not address the tax point that upset Johnson. Livingstone, who has been accused of cutting his tax bill by channelling income through a private company, said Johnson also had a private company, Finland Station. Andrew Gilligan (the Telegraph journalist and one of Livingstone's harshest critics) looked into this last month. He concluded that it was quite different from Livingstone's company, Silveta.
So as families and friends get together this week, I would like to send my best wishes to you all, and I hope and pray you have a very happy and peaceful Easter.
• Labour have accused the government of forcing up petrol prices. According to official figures, on Monday the price of unleaded petrol was 141p/litre, 1.5p higher than the previous week. The price for diesel was 147.7p/litre, 1.1p higher than the previous week. Both figures are record highs. Owen Smith, a shadow Treasury minister, said: "These record petrol prices – 1.5p higher than just a week ago – are the government's own doing. By irresponsibly triggering panic-buying of petrol when there was no strike date ministers from David Cameron down not only created queues, shortages and inconvenience but caused pump prices to rise even further."
• Carwyn Jones, the Welsh first minister, has announced a £75m scheme intended to create 12,000 job opportunities for young people over the next three years.
• The Ministry of Defence has announced a £60m contract for laser-guided bombs that will sustain 450 jobs at Raytheon UK plants in Glenrothes, Scotland and Harlow, Essex.
• David Cameron has formally launched the government's new right-to-buy scheme for tenants in social housing.

• Lucy Panton, the former News of the World crime editor, has told the Leveson inquiry that she did not lead a champagne lifestyle while working for the paper. There are full details on our Leveson live blog.
12.53pm: Sky's Mark Kleinman says James Murdoch is going to stand down as chairman of BSkyB this afternoon. But he will remain on the board, Kleinman says.
12.40pm: Ed Miliband has given an interview to the BBC this morning. As far as I can tell, it seemed to have been designed to give fresh quotes to two of the main stories running on the 24-hour news channels today. Here are the key points. I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.
• Miliband criticised the government for the way it has publicised its plans to extend internet surveillance.
I do say to the prime minister that he has to get a grip on this government, on the way this government operates and the way that policy is made. It isn't a sensible way to make policy to have a briefing to the Sunday newspapers followed by an article in the Sun. That isn't the way policy is set out by government, that isn't a mature way or a calming way to run a government.
But, on the substance of the proposals, he was more supportive. Stressing that Labour would have to look at the plans when they are published, he said powers had always been in place to stop serious crime.
• He criticised Michael Gove as an education secretary "for the few, not the many". He said Labour would consider Gove's plan to let universities take charge of A-levels. (See 9.21am.) But he made it clear that he had broader objections to Gove's policies.
He is a centralising secretary of state, creating lots of academies that will be run from central government. What we have to have is an education system that works for the many, not the few, and is run in a proper, co-ordinated way.
12.28pm: More on the Boris/Ken row. Ken Livingstone has now challenged Johnson to answer three questions about his private company, Finland Station, if Johnson wants to prove that his tax arrangments were quite unlike Livingstone's. Here are the questions.
1. Did [Johnson] pay income tax on all of his earnings from Finland Station? Can he categorically say that he didn't receive any income through dividends and instead pay capital gains tax of 18% (rather than paying income tax at 40%)?
2. When he sold his shareholdings in Finland Station to David Jeffcock and Barnaby Spurrier - did he pay income tax on the money that he received at 40%, or capital gains tax at 18%?
3) Did he employ anyone?
I'll let you know when we get an answer from the Johnson camp.
12.10pm: You can read all today's Guardian politics stories here. And all the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in today's paper, are here.12.10pm: You can read all today's Guardian politics stories here. And all the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in today's paper, are here.
As for the rest of the papers, here are some articles and stories that are particularly interesting.As for the rest of the papers, here are some articles and stories that are particularly interesting.
• Mary Riddell in the Daily Telegraph says Ed Miliband has united his party, but only by failing to give it a sense of direction.• Mary Riddell in the Daily Telegraph says Ed Miliband has united his party, but only by failing to give it a sense of direction.
Mr Miliband has achieved the unusual feat of pacifying a party whose warring instincts were heightened by the fact that so many of his shadow team wanted his brother to win. However fragile, this harmony is real. The difficulty is that he owes some of the goodwill to his ability to see several sides of an argument. Or, as his critics might say, to his tendency to dither. The result is a message that seems, at best, encrypted.Mr Miliband has achieved the unusual feat of pacifying a party whose warring instincts were heightened by the fact that so many of his shadow team wanted his brother to win. However fragile, this harmony is real. The difficulty is that he owes some of the goodwill to his ability to see several sides of an argument. Or, as his critics might say, to his tendency to dither. The result is a message that seems, at best, encrypted.
Take crime, a centrepiece of his local election offer. Some in the Labour hierarchy want to make it the party of law and order, while others shun the Blairite crackdowns that led to a surge in prison numbers. The resulting fudge may be symbolised by Mr Miliband's suggestion in an interview that anti-social yobs should be frogmarched back to their victims to make amends. While those were not his exact words, the measure appears to mix restorative justice, invigilated by the police, with Tony Blair's doomed wheeze of "marching yobs to cashpoints". Coupled with an inscrutable line on Asbos (which Mr Miliband does not much like, but blames the Government for scrapping), this message is unlikely to resonate either in the leafy southern suburbs that Labour needs to recapture or the desolate post-industrial wastelands that it needs to retain.Take crime, a centrepiece of his local election offer. Some in the Labour hierarchy want to make it the party of law and order, while others shun the Blairite crackdowns that led to a surge in prison numbers. The resulting fudge may be symbolised by Mr Miliband's suggestion in an interview that anti-social yobs should be frogmarched back to their victims to make amends. While those were not his exact words, the measure appears to mix restorative justice, invigilated by the police, with Tony Blair's doomed wheeze of "marching yobs to cashpoints". Coupled with an inscrutable line on Asbos (which Mr Miliband does not much like, but blames the Government for scrapping), this message is unlikely to resonate either in the leafy southern suburbs that Labour needs to recapture or the desolate post-industrial wastelands that it needs to retain.


• Theresa May, the home secretary, uses an article in the Sun to defend her plan to extend internet surveillance.

• Theresa May, the home secretary, uses an article in the Sun to defend her plan to extend internet surveillance.
Last year, police smashed a major international child pornography website based in Lincolnshire. They then used internet data analysis to find other suspected paedophiles.Last year, police smashed a major international child pornography website based in Lincolnshire. They then used internet data analysis to find other suspected paedophiles.
Such data has been used in every security service terrorism investigation and 95 per cent of serious organised crime investigations over the last ten years.Such data has been used in every security service terrorism investigation and 95 per cent of serious organised crime investigations over the last ten years.
We cannot afford to lose this vital law enforcement tool. But currently online communication by criminals can't always be tracked.We cannot afford to lose this vital law enforcement tool. But currently online communication by criminals can't always be tracked.
That's why the Government is proposing to help the police stay one step ahead of the criminals.That's why the Government is proposing to help the police stay one step ahead of the criminals.
There are no plans for any big Government database. No one is going to be looking through ordinary people's emails or Facebook posts.There are no plans for any big Government database. No one is going to be looking through ordinary people's emails or Facebook posts.
Only suspected terrorists, paedophiles or serious criminals will be investigated.Only suspected terrorists, paedophiles or serious criminals will be investigated.
• Richard Evans in the Daily Telegraph says George Osborne's "granny tax" breaks a promise he made to pensioners in last year's budget.• Richard Evans in the Daily Telegraph says George Osborne's "granny tax" breaks a promise he made to pensioners in last year's budget.
In the 2012 Budget last month George Osborne froze pensioners' tax-free allowance. But last year the Government promised that the age-related personal allowance would be increased in line with the retail prices index until at least 2015, campaigners have discovered.In the 2012 Budget last month George Osborne froze pensioners' tax-free allowance. But last year the Government promised that the age-related personal allowance would be increased in line with the retail prices index until at least 2015, campaigners have discovered.
"To ensure ... older people do not lose out, for the duration of this Parliament the annual increases in ... the age related allowance and other thresholds for older people will ... increase by the equivalent of the RPI," the 2011 Red Book, the official document detailing Budget measures, said on page 35."To ensure ... older people do not lose out, for the duration of this Parliament the annual increases in ... the age related allowance and other thresholds for older people will ... increase by the equivalent of the RPI," the 2011 Red Book, the official document detailing Budget measures, said on page 35.
• Oliver Wright in the Independent says the government's statutory register of lobbyists would only cover 5% of lobbying directed at MPs and peers.• Oliver Wright in the Independent says the government's statutory register of lobbyists would only cover 5% of lobbying directed at MPs and peers.
Ministers plan to bring in legislation requiring all "those who undertake lobbying activities on behalf of a third party" to register as lobbyists. David Cameron has claimed the plan will "shine a light of transparency" on the political influence lobbyists enjoy.Ministers plan to bring in legislation requiring all "those who undertake lobbying activities on behalf of a third party" to register as lobbyists. David Cameron has claimed the plan will "shine a light of transparency" on the political influence lobbyists enjoy.
But an analysis for The Independent by the non-profit organisation Full Fact, which examines the accuracy of public statistics, suggests the influence of the lobbying register will be minimal. According to its findings, it would cover only 4.8 per cent of money and services recorded as given to parliamentarians.But an analysis for The Independent by the non-profit organisation Full Fact, which examines the accuracy of public statistics, suggests the influence of the lobbying register will be minimal. According to its findings, it would cover only 4.8 per cent of money and services recorded as given to parliamentarians.
• Tim Ross in the Daily Telegraphy says Ed Miliband is dampening expectations for the local elections.• Tim Ross in the Daily Telegraphy says Ed Miliband is dampening expectations for the local elections.
Ed Miliband is aiming to win a modest 300 council seats at next month's local elections as Labour strategists attempt to dampen expectations of a breakthrough at the polls ...Ed Miliband is aiming to win a modest 300 council seats at next month's local elections as Labour strategists attempt to dampen expectations of a breakthrough at the polls ...
However, the Local Government Information Unit, a think-tank specialising in council politics, said national opinion polls were predicting a 14% swing to Labour.However, the Local Government Information Unit, a think-tank specialising in council politics, said national opinion polls were predicting a 14% swing to Labour.
Andy Sawford, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, said: "If those polls were to be borne out Labour should be looking at more like 500 gains. That would look like real progress."Andy Sawford, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, said: "If those polls were to be borne out Labour should be looking at more like 500 gains. That would look like real progress."
• James Slack in the Daily Mail says the government's plans to extend internet surveillance will cost the taxpayer £2bn.• James Slack in the Daily Mail says the government's plans to extend internet surveillance will cost the taxpayer £2bn.
• Sam Coates in the Times (paywall) says the Ministry of Justice spends more on pot plants than any other government department.• Sam Coates in the Times (paywall) says the Ministry of Justice spends more on pot plants than any other government department.

Kenneth Clarke spent £14,000 in one year on plants for Ministry of Justice offices, saying that it represented a "very minimal" spending on foliage for his Whitehall empire.
Kenneth Clarke spent £14,000 in one year on plants for Ministry of Justice offices, saying that it represented a "very minimal" spending on foliage for his Whitehall empire.
Pot plants are needed in some courts and prison buildings "to give a welcoming atmosphere", according to a parliamentary answer published last week. The department spends more than any other on greenery, even though it "regularly reviews the policy to maximise value for money", according to the answer from Jonathan Djanogly, the Justice Minister.Pot plants are needed in some courts and prison buildings "to give a welcoming atmosphere", according to a parliamentary answer published last week. The department spends more than any other on greenery, even though it "regularly reviews the policy to maximise value for money", according to the answer from Jonathan Djanogly, the Justice Minister.
• Christian Gysin and Colin Fernandez in the Daily Mail says George Galloway got married for the fourth time on Saturday - to an anthropologist 30 years his junior.• Christian Gysin and Colin Fernandez in the Daily Mail says George Galloway got married for the fourth time on Saturday - to an anthropologist 30 years his junior.
11.53am: A spokesman for Ken Livingstone has sent me a statement about the great Boris/Ken "fucking liar" lift row, as I suppose we have to call it. (See 10.57am.) 12.28pm: More on the Boris/Ken row. Ken Livingstone has now challenged Johnson to answer three questions about his private company, Finland Station, if Johnson wants to prove that his tax arrangments were quite unlike Livingstone's. Here are the questions.

/>Boris Johnson lost his temper because he lost the debate - he talked about cable cars not cutting fares and the squeeze on Londoners. 		1. Did [Johnson] pay income tax on all of his earnings from Finland Station? Can he categorically say that he didn't receive any income through dividends and instead pay capital gains tax of 18% (rather than paying income tax at 40%)?
You'll notice it does not address the tax point that upset Johnson. Livingstone, who has been accused of cutting his tax bill by channelling income through a private company, said Johnson also had a private company, Finland Station. Andrew Gilligan (the Telegraph journalist and one of Livingstone's harshest critics) looked into this last month. He concluded that it was quite different from Livingstone's company, Silveta. 2. When he sold his shareholdings in Finland Station to David Jeffcock and Barnaby Spurrier - did he pay income tax on the money that he received at 40%, or capital gains tax at 18%?
11.26am: Nick Clegg is in Crewe announcing a £3m grant for Bentley Motors from the regional growth fund. The RGF is intended to draw in private sector investment and Clegg says it will safeguard 200 jobs and create another 500 jobs. 3) Did he employ anyone?
Here's an extract from the news release. I'll let you know when we get an answer from the Johnson camp.
The [£3m of funding] will be used by the world-famous company, which has manufactured luxury cars since 1919, to fund an innovative new engine research and development project which will help the business expand into new overseas markets, including China. Over £20m of private investment has been secured for the project alongside £3m government funding. 12.40pm: Ed Miliband has given an interview to the BBC this morning. As far as I can tell, it seemed to have been designed to give fresh quotes to two of the main stories running on the 24-hour news channels today. Here are the key points. I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.
And here's a quote from Clegg. • Miliband criticised the government for the way it has publicised its plans to extend internet surveillance.
Today's announcement is just the tip of the iceberg for the North West. All in all 47 bids to the Regional Growth Fund have been approved. This will mean over 13,000 new and protected jobs across the region and over 41,000 supply chain jobs. I do say to the prime minister that he has to get a grip on this government, on the way this government operates and the way that policy is made. It isn't a sensible way to make policy to have a briefing to the Sunday newspapers followed by an article in the Sun. That isn't the way policy is set out by government, that isn't a mature way or a calming way to run a government.
10.57am: The LBC mayoral debate seemed relatively tame from what I read on our live blog, but the debate in the lift afterwards between Boris Johnson (pictured) and Ken Livingstone was ferocious, according to my colleague Hélène Mulholland. This is what she has has posted on the blog. But, on the substance of the proposals, he was more supportive. Stressing that Labour would have to look at the plans when they are published, he said powers had always been in place to stop serious crime.
We've learned that things did not go well in the lift after the hustings was over. Boris went nose to nose with Ken in a small lift and told Ken three times: "You're a fucking liar, you're a fucking liar, you're a fucking liar." Paddick and Jenny were also squeezed in, alongside James Rea, the LBC managing editor. Johnson's anger was due to claims made during the hustings by Livingstone about Johnson's tax arrangements, which the mayor flatly denies. He told me later that Ken's claims were "nonsense". Of course at that point we hadn't heard about the ding-dong in the lift. • He criticised Michael Gove as an education secretary "for the few, not the many". He said Labour would consider Gove's plan to let universities take charge of A-levels. (See 9.21am.) But he made it clear that he had broader objections to Gove's policies.
London Tonight's political correspondent Simon Harris has got more on Twitter. He is a centralising secretary of state, creating lots of academies that will be run from central government. What we have to have is an education system that works for the many, not the few, and is run in a proper, co-ordinated way.
Sources say Johnson and Livingstone"nose to nose". Johnson 's face "red with rage" @londontonight 12.53pm: Sky's Mark Kleinman says James Murdoch is going to stand down as chairman of BSkyB this afternoon. But he will remain on the board, Kleinman says.
— Simon Harris (@simonharrisitv) April 3, 2012 1.30pm: Here's a lunchtime summary.
/>
/>• Sky News has revealed that James Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of BSkyB. We'll be covering all the reaction on a separate live blog.
During the debate Livingstone said that Johnson had set up his own company called "Finland Station". Johnson said that he has never used a company to channel income, in the way that Livingstone has done. Johnson has just put out a news release accusing Livingstone of lying. Here's an extract. • Nick Clegg has said the government's plans to extend internet surveillance will include safeguards to protect "hard-fought" civil liberties. He defended the proposals in an interview on the World at One. I'll post more details soon. Earlier, Ed Miliband urged David Cameron to "get a grip" on the government in the light of the ongoing controvery about the plans. The Labour leader argued that such a sensitive decision should be explained to the public in a more formal way. He spoke out after Theresa May, the home secretary, used an article in the Sun to defend the plans, which first emerged in the Sunday papers. May said: "No one is going to be looking through ordinary people's emails or Facebook posts. Only suspected terrorists, paedophiles or serious criminals will be investigated."

/>My salary as Mayor is taxed as an employee of the GLA. In the same way as when I was an MP my salary was taxed as an employee. Any other income that I have received from outside endeavours has been received on a self-employed basis, to me as an individual (no company or other structure has been involved). No income earned by me has ever been paid to a "service" company, through which a person or person's freelance earnings can be channelled so that they pay corporation rather than income tax. 		• Boris Johnson has repeatedly called Ken Livingstone a "fucking liar" after Livingstone suggested that Johnson had used a private company to cut his tax bill. The two men had a furious row in a lift after debating each other in public on LBC. (See 10.57am, 11.53am and 12.28pm.)
/>
/>• Ed Davey, the energy secretary, has launched a £1bn competition to encourage companies to develop technology which captures and stores carbon from power stations. As the Press Association reports, tt is the second time the government has attempted to get carbon capture and storage (CCS) off the ground, after a previous bid ended in failure when plans for the technology at ScottishPower's coal plant at Longannet, Fife, were abandoned. Ministers are depending on getting the technology, which can capture up to 90% of carbon emissions and then permanently store them underground, working at scale as a major part of decarbonising electricity generation by 2030. This time the £1bn in funding will be available to a wider range of projects, including gas power stations and even industrial plants involved as part of group schemes, to develop CCS at commercial scale between 2016 and 2020. (See 10.14am.)
To suggest otherwise is a complete and utter fabrication. • Universities, headteachers and examiners have expressed concern over Michael Gove's plan to ask lecturers to set A-level exams in two years' time, claiming that the system is "not broken".
Of course the real point is not about my tax arrangements. It is about the hypocrisy of a man who for years has railed against those who use special arrangements to reduce their tax and who has then been caught – bang to rights – doing the very same thing himself. • David Cameron has issued an Easter message to the nation. In it, the prime minister came close to appropriating Jesus as a model Briton, saying the values he embraced were those that "make our country what it is". Here it is in full.
10.40am: For the record, here are the YouGov GB polling figures from last night. Easter week is a very important moment in the Christian calendar, so I would like to extend my best wishes to everyone here in the United Kingdom, and across the world, at this special time of year.
Labour: 43% (up 1 from YouGov in the Sunday Times)
/>Conservative: 33% (no change)
/>Lib Dems: 8% (no change) 		This is the time when, as Christians, we remember the life, sacrifice and living legacy of Christ. The New Testament tells us so much about the character of Jesus; a man of incomparable compassion, generosity, grace, humility and love. These are the values that Jesus embraced, and I believe these are values people of any faith, or no faith, can also share in, and admire.
Labour lead: 10 points. It is values like these that make our country what it is - a place which is tolerant, generous and caring. A nation which has an established faith, that together is most content when we are defined by what we are for, rather than defined by what we are against. In the book of Luke, we are told that Jesus said, "Do to others as you would have them do to you" - advice that when followed makes for a happier, and better society for everyone.
Government approval: -43 So as families and friends get together this week, I would like to send my best wishes to you all, and I hope and pray you have a very happy and peaceful Easter.
At -43, the government's approval rating has hit a new low. On Sunday, when it hit -40 for the first time, that was also a record low. Last week it was in the mid -30s. You can see how quickly it has fallen on the YouGov tracker (pdf). At the moment it seems to be in freefall. • Labour have accused the government of forcing up petrol prices. According to official figures, on Monday the price of unleaded petrol was 141p/litre, 1.5p higher than the previous week. The price for diesel was 147.7p/litre, 1.1p higher than the previous week. Both figures are record highs. Owen Smith, a shadow Treasury minister, said: "These record petrol prices – 1.5p higher than just a week ago – are the government's own doing. By irresponsibly triggering panic-buying of petrol when there was no strike date ministers from David Cameron down not only created queues, shortages and inconvenience but caused pump prices to rise even further."
10.37am: Here's a blow to the Big Society. The Press Association have just snapped this. • Carwyn Jones, the Welsh first minister, has announced a £75m scheme intended to create 12,000 job opportunities for young people over the next three years.
Surrey County Council's plans for 10 libraries to be run by volunteers was ruled unlawful by the High Court today. • The Ministry of Defence has announced a £60m contract for laser-guided bombs that will sustain 450 jobs at Raytheon UK plants in Glenrothes, Scotland and Harlow, Essex.
10.27am: Ken Livingstone has published a plan to tackle London's gang culture, involving mediation and early intervention. The full details are on his website. • David Cameron has formally launched the government's new right-to-buy scheme for tenants in social housing.
/>
/>• Lucy Panton, the former News of the World crime editor, has told the Leveson inquiry that she did not lead a champagne lifestyle while working for the paper. There are full details on our Leveson live blog.
10.14am: Ed Davey (pictured), the energy secretary, has launched a competition today to encourage the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The full details are in the Department of Energy's news release. Davey says this is one of the best offers available to the industry in the world. 2.13pm: Here's more from the World at One interview with Nick Clegg (pictured) about the government's plans to extend surveillance of the internet.
What we are looking to achieve, in partnership with industry, is a new world-leading CCS industry, rather than just simply projects in isolation – an industry that can compete with other low-carbon sources to ensure security and diversity of our electricity supply, an industry that can make our energy intensive industries cleaner and an industry that can bring jobs and wealth to our shores. The CCS industry could be worth £6.5bn a year to the UK economy by late next decade as we export UK expertise and products. • Clegg said the Lib Dems would demand "the highest possible safeguards". Protecting civil liberties was very important, he said.
This is a really exciting time for the fledgling CCS industry. Our offer is one of the best anywhere in the world. We have £1bn available to support the upfront costs of early projects along with a commitment to further funding through low carbon Contracts for Difference, we have £125m to support research and development including a new UK CCS Research Centre, and we have the long term incentives in place through our Electricity Market Reforms. You cannot do any of this without ensuring that there are safeguards, and that there are safeguards which guarantee people's privacy, guarantee our hard-fought civil liberties. That is something I personally believe in very passionately indeed ...
9.21am: As Jessica Shepherd reports in the Guardian today, Michael Gove, the education secretary, wants universities to take charge of setting A-levels. Christine Blower, the National Union of Teachers general secretary, told the Today programme that she was disappointed that Gove had not consulted the profession first. I've taken her quote from PoliticsHome. I am absolutely clear, as deputy prime minister, as someone who cares passionately about civil liberties, as the leader of the Liberal Democrats, that we will not return to the bad old days under the Labour party. This will be an open, consultative and properly scrutinised process.
I think Michael Gove is always looking for a golden past, isn't he. But what I would say about this is it's a little disappointing that he's written to Ofqual without having had this discussion with the profession, because the fact is he also says in his letter that A-levels have a lot to commend them, and he also says that students becoming undergraduates have become much better at communication, at presentation, and at team work and that what he's actually looking for is a lot more independent thinking, a lot more critical thinking, wider reading and ability to experiment. • He said that new technology meant it was right to consider whether the police needed new powers. The police can already identify who has made a telephone call, and where and when it was made. But now people were increasingly using methods like Skype to communicate. The government was considering whether the police needed new powers to keep up.
Blower said she was not opposed to reforming A-levels. But she went on: "What we don't want is to have proposals put to us on a take-it-or-leave-it basis." • He said there would be a proper consultation. The plans would be published in draft, he said.
9.11am: The Lib Dems have released some comments from Nick Clegg about his local election launch later. Here's an extract. It is important that people should be reassured that we as a government are not going to ram something through parliament.

/>This is the time to be proud to be a Liberal Democrat. We've always worked hard and delivered for people locally but for the first time in living memory, we are doing that nationally too .. 		• He said the government's decisions would be guided by certain key principles.
The Liberal Democrats are delivering for ordinary people in government. Over the next week, our policies will mean nearly 25m people will get a £130 tax cut on top of the £200 tax cut we gave them last year.
/>All along I will be guided, and the govenrment will be guided, by some very simple principles: that any change will have to be proportionate, it cannot lead to the creation of a new government database, it cannot give the police new powers to look at the contents of people's emails. Essentially what we are talking about is whether the powers of the police need to be updated to keep pace with the use of new technology.
Schools will get over £1bn more through our Pupil Premium to help the most disadvantaged children and pensioners will see the biggest ever cash rise in the state pension of £5.30 a week.
/>
/>• He said some of the reports about the government's plans had been inaccurate. He urged people to wait until the details are published before forming a judgment.
My top priority is jobs and growth, in Stockport, Liberal Democrats are leading the way with the highest increase in the number of new business start-ups in the north west and the highest number of new 16-18 advanced and higher apprenticeships in Greater Manchester. 2.53pm: Nick Clegg is due to launch the Lib Dem election campaign shortly. I haven't gone to Stockport and I'll be reliant on BBC News, Sky and Twitter for help with my coverage.
8.59am: There was a fascinating snippet from Mark Easton on the Today programme just now. Apparently at the Department for Communities they talk of TAFKARs - The Areas Formerly Known As Regions. That's because the coalition is so hostile to the (Labour and EU) notion of dividing the UK into regions. Tory geography tends to put more emphasis on towns, cities and shire counties. Clegg isn't giving a proper speech. But Lib Dem HQ have put out a short statement from him.
8.50am: With parliament in recess, the political parties are now starting to focus on next month's local elections. Ed Miliband launched the Labour campaign yesterday, and Nick Clegg is launching the Lib Dem one this afternoon. In the Guardian today Tony Travers has an article explaining what's at stake. Liberal Democrat councillors across the country are working to protect the services that people value most, while Liberal Democrats in the coalition clear up the economic mess Labour left behind.
On 3 May, all three parties will be under pressure to elicit from voters a response that will be seen to outperform their present unpromising standing. Our priority is clear, in difficult times we must make sure we do all we can to help ordinary working people. That is why, unlike Labour or the Conservatives, every Liberal Democrat council in England has frozen council tax. That is why Liberal Democrat councils are more likely to earmark funds for the lowest paid than any other. And that is why this month Liberal Democrats in government are delivering tax cuts for 25m working people.
The Conservatives badly need to steady nerves after their spate of unforced errors, Labour is recovering from its dreadful defeat in Bradford, and the Liberal Democrats will be fearful of another battering of the kind they got in last year's local elections. Liberal Democrats have a strong record in local government and are committed to fighting for communities across the UK.
At stake is voting for a third of the council seats in each of the 36 English metropolitan districts; a third of seats in 16 unitary authorities (plus two, Hartlepool and Swindon where all seats are voting, due to boundary changes); and various proportions of the seats in 74 shire districts (63 by thirds, seven for half the seats, and four all-out). The Lib Dems have also released separate manifestos for eight regions in England which are on their website. The manifesto for London will be released later.
I'll be covering the Lib Dem campaign in detail later. 3.01pm: My colleague Nicholas Watt is at the Lib Dem local election launch. He's sent me this.
Otherwise, it's a patchy day. Here's the agenda. Nick Clegg has arrived at a building supply firm on the outskirts of Stockport for the launch of the Liberal Democrats' local election campaign. The deputy prime minister is visiting Benchmark Building Supplies Limited in Romiley to focus attention on the work of Stockport council in promoting apprenticeships. The Lib Dems run the council as a minority administration. Andrew Stunnell is the local Lib Dem MP for Hazel Grove. Stockport has the highest number of start up companies in the north west. It also has the highest number of apprenticeships in the Greater Manchester area for those aged 16 to 18.
9am: LBC hosts a London mayoral debate with Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Brian Paddick and Jenny Jones. My colleague Paul Owen is covering it on our London mayoral elections live blog. 3.09pm: The Electoral Commission has launched a Facebook campaign to encourage people to register to vote for next month's elections. You can read all the details here. If you want to vote, you have to be registered by 18 April.
10am: Lucy Panton, the former News of the World crime editor, gives evidence to the Leveson inquiry. 3.17pm: Ed Miliband has said that James Murdoch was right to stand down as chairman of BSkyB. This is what he told Sky just now.
Morning: David Cameron visits south west London today to publicise the government's new right-to-buy scheme for social housing. As Nicholas Watt reports, tenants will qualify for discounts worth up to £75,000. I think it probably is the right thing for [Murdoch] to do. But it goes beyond one person ... This is now about how [News Corporation] can restore public confidence by, from top to bottom, [seeing] what happened and then having a clear out of those people who did wrong.
11am: Nick Clegg visits the Bentley factory in Crewe to announce that it has secured £3m from the regional growth fund. It was interesting that he talked about News Corporation, not News International. Was he suggesting that Rupert Murdoch should go? It didn't sound quite like that, but I'm not sure.
3pm: Clegg launches the Lib Dem local election campaign at a meeting with apprentices in Stockport. 3.28pm: With the Labour party, it's still open season on Gordon Brown. Last month Ed Balls told the Times in an interview that working for Brown was "debilitating" and that "nobody is going to look back at any point in history and say that Gordon Brown was a great prime minister". And now Peter Hain, in an interview with the Australian, has said this.
At some point today Stephen Twigg, the shadow education secretary, is addressing the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference in Manchester. He is going to say that it is a "national scandal" that poorer pupils are lagging up to a year behind their richer classmates in their schooling. Gordon has a massive political brain and is superhumanly dedicated, but he was quite dysfunctional as a prime minister.
As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and another in the afternoon.
/>There's more in Outside In, Hain's recent autobiography, which I've just got round to reading. It's far better than the standard ministerial memoir, partly because the account of Hain's time as an anti-apartheid activist is gripping, but partly because he's quite candid about his colleagues. There are a few anecdotes that add to catalogue of stories about Brown's strange behaviour. Here's one of my favourites. It's about Brown's conduct when the cabinet assembled for a groupt photograph in September 2004, when Brown/Blair relations were at a particular low.
If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow. [Brown] refused to walk up in the normal way, face towards the seating position, turning around before sitting down. Instead he turned around before he got anywhere near and backed in, his body language signalling extreme awkwardness and hostility towards Tony, no greeting or small talk, angling towards David [Blunkett] and never uttering a word to Tony ...
And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog. I found myself walking downstairs to the cabinet room with Gordon afterwards and asked him how he was feeling. "What do you think?" he muttered, tight lipped though friendly. "The problem is we have not solved a whole lot of problems and those problems have to be solved."
3.55pm: The Lib Dem local election launch has been and gone without attracting the attention of 24-hour news. My colleague Nicholas Watt has sent me this.
Nick Clegg has left Stockport after the low key launch of the Liberal Democrats' local election launch. He is now heading to Salford to visit the BBC's new northern headquarters for a round of regional radio interviews. The deputy prime minister said the local elections would be difficult for the Lib Dems because the seats were last contested in 2008 long before the party entered government. He said his ambition in May was to ensure there are more Lib Dem councillors.
4.20pm: Here's an afternoon summary.
• Ed Miliband has called for a "clear out of those people who did wrong" at News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's media company. Miliband also said that James Murdoch was right to stand down as chairman of BSkyB. Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who has campaigned against phone hacking, said Murdoch junior quit because he was worried about what a forthcoming select committee report would say.
Two years ago the Murdochs were courted by all and sundry and now James Murdoch is running away with his tail between his legs, frightened of what the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee may say about his disastrous and incompetent running of News International. The important message for the whole political class is that we should never kow-tow to a media mogul again, nor allow any one person to have such a stranglehold over the British media.
There is more on our live blog covering Mudoch's decision to stand down as BSkyB chairman.

• Nick Clegg has insisted that the plans to extend internet surveillance will be published in draft. Parliament would have the chance to amend them, he suggested. He also said that some of the reports about what the plans would contain were wrong.

These proposals are not the draconian proposals that there have been portrayed as being. They are trying to deal with a simple, pragmatic issue one cannot simply ignore or duck, that is that there are new forms of technology which enable criminal gangs and terrorists and other to communicate with each other which are not captured in existing statutes.
• Clegg has said that the Lib Dem goal in the local elections will be to win more seats. At a low-key local election launch, he admitted the elections would be diffcult for his party. (See 3.55pm.)
• Boris Johnson has released a letter from his accountant showing that he has never used a private company to cut his tax bill. Here's an extract. It's from Robert Maples at Begbies.
My firm has acted as Boris' acountants since the 1990's. All of his freelance earnings have been included in his tax returns and subjected to income tax at the appropriate rates. He has never used a company either to shelter his income from taxation, or to meet other private expenditure, or to employ staff.
He was a director of and 1/3 shareholder in a television company called Finland Station Limited. This company paid him production fees for his television work which were included in his tax returns, and subject to income tax. He never received any dividends or director's remuneration from the company.
When he was elected mayor, he gave up his interest in the company. The total net assets of the company at that time were £307. No taxation liability arose on his 1/3 share of this.
• David Cameron has said that a Christian "fightback" is taking place in the UK and that this is a good thing. He made the comments in a reception at Number 10.
I think there's something of a fightback going on, and we should welcome that ... The values of the Bible, the values of Christianity are the values that we need.


• A former president of the Union of Democratic Mineworkers has been found guilty today of stealing thousands of pounds from a miners' care home charity. As the Press Association reports, Neil Greatrex was accused of stealing money from Phoenix Nursing and Residential Home Ltd, a subsidiary company of the UDM charity Nottinghamshire Miners Home. He was found guilty of 14 theft charges relating to money stolen to settle invoices from two building companies and a joiner amounting to a total of £148,628.83. UDM general secretary Mick Stevens, who was accused of the same charges, was cleared by the jury at Nottingham Crown Court.
• A county council's decision that 10 libraries should be run by volunteers has been ruled procedurally flawed and unlawful. As the Press Association reports, a High Court judge said today that Surrey County Council had "failed to have due regard to equality issues". The council said later that it had lost the case only on a "technical" challenge and the legal defeat would not prevent the scheme ultimately going ahead. The judge is expected to decide next month what orders, if any, to make against the council. It is expected that the authority will have to reconsider its flawed decision in the light of today's judgment. The authority's community library scheme is aimed at keeping its 52 libraries open. It involves removing all paid staff from 10 community libraries, leaving them to be run entirely by volunteers.
That's it for today. Thanks for the comments.